The Reason Why
by Healer Pomfrey
Summary: Why could Harry and Ron have been so stupid to fly the car, and why did McGonagall let them get away with it without even taking House points? Completely AU, sick!Min. Just a drabble I composed when I was ill on request of one of my readers.


**The Reason Why**

Minerva sighed in relief as she sat down on her seat at the Head table after taking the Sorting Hat away. She tiredly rested her head onto her hands, staring onto her still empty plate and wondering why she felt so light-headed today. '_I just hope I won't get ill at the beginning of the school year_,' she mused, completely ignoring Poppy's repeatedly whispered question what she'd like to eat.

"Minerva, may I ask you to accompany me for a moment," Dumbledore's voice suddenly penetrated her woozy mind, and she slowly rose from her chair and dragged herself after the man down to the dungeons, absentmindedly listening to the Headmaster's explanation about the stunt two of her little lions had performed that evening.

When they arrived in Snape's office, the Potions Master was just threatening Harry and Ron with expulsion, and Minerva feverishly tried to search her foggy brain for a solution to a problem she didn't even properly comprehend. Failing in her attempts to ignore her splitting headache enough to present a reasonable judgement, she merely threw the two boys a stern glare and promised they wouldn't be expelled. Of course she could have taken House points from her little lions, but her foggy mind was too busy counting the stars that appeared in front of her eyes as she stood in the Potions Master's office to become aware of that method of relatively harmless punishment.

She wearily conjured a plate of sandwiches for the boys, admonishing them to eat and return to their House, taken aback when Harry replied, "No thank you, Professor," while his friend tucked in with gusto.

"Potter, Weasley, I'm still waiting for an explanation as to why you chose to pull such a stunt instead of simply sending an owl to Hogwarts," the Potions Master drawled, throwing the boys an impatient glare.

Normally, Minerva probably wouldn't have noticed such a thing, but perhaps she was more sensible that evening by not feeling well herself. She suddenly had the impression as if both boys looked extremely pale, while sweat was building on their foreheads in spite of being in the cold dungeons that made her whole body shiver, and at least Harry's eyes were only half open and glazed over.

"Severus, could you please check on the boys? I think they look ill," she spoke up, unobtrusively holding on to the door frame to steady herself.

The Potions Master raised an eye at his older colleague, noticing that the tough Scottish lioness was about to pass out, and pulled a chair over to her, gently helping her to sit down. Returning to his seat behind his desk, he pulled his wand and subsequently pointed it at Ron's, Harry's, and Minerva's head, sighing as he put his wand away.

"All three of you are running quite a fever," he stated. "May I assume that your ill health is the reason for your lack of competence to make a reasonable decision?"

"I'm fine," Harry protested in a small voice, while Ron merely shrugged, pushing the self refilling plate away, and McGonagall threw her younger colleague an apologetic look.

"Very well," Snape resumed the conversation. "Potter, Weasley, the next time you're not alert enough to think properly, you'll ask one of your teachers, before you make any decisions. Is that clear?" he queried, leaning over the table with a menacing expression on his face.

"Yes," the children croaked simultaneously.

"Very well then, let me take all three of you to the hospital wing," Snape decided, sweeping ahead with dramatically billowing robes. "Minerva, the next time your lions do such a stunt, it would be good if you did as much as take House points," he muttered, while he gently helped her into the bed next to the two boys. "At least it's reassuring to know that your incompetence in decision making was due to your illness."

"I'm sorry, Severus, thank you," Minerva whispered, lazily closing her achy eyes, while Poppy confirmed to the Potions Master that all three of her patients had caught the bug of the wizard's flu that was currently spreading around the magial world.

**The End**

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This one-shot was written for Melancholera, one of my kind reviewers, upon her request. I hope you enjoyed?!_

_I'm not a native speaker of English. Please excuse my mistakes or help me to correct them._

_All recognizable characters belong to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story._


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